Ever-Life the Two Book Set: The C.P.T Incident and Time Trust (2 page)

Rachel was an attractive woman. She just turned forty-four last month. She had medium blond hair sprinkled with just a tad gray here and there. The creases around her eyes spoke of many happy times when she smiled.  She was five-foot
, two-inches and had a strikingly beautiful figure.

Jack had an al
most buff like appearance, at the age of forty-six, standing six feet tall. His olive complexion fooled most into thinking he was Italian, rather than French. He had a magnetic demeanor and the looks to match. His full head of hair was graying at the temples; and there was no mistaking that smile, or curt staunch look, when he was concentrating or guiding his team. Years ago, Jack’s young talents brought him the highest achievements tenured at Johns Hopkins. His career soared after receiving awards for genetic analysis, during those government contract years. Eventually, his expertise brought him to Brock /Swanson as Head of Research. They were the quintessential couple; and they had all the amenities befitting their extraordinary expertise.

It was hours ago that Rachel awoke from her cell phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Sheldon?”

“Yes.”

“This is Ron Sandry at Andrews Hospital. I’m sorry to call at this hour, especially to tell you this.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Mr. Sheldon, Ma’am. He was in a car accident. It’s bad
, Mrs. Sheldon. You’d better come. I really don’t know what to say. Dr. Bellos told me to call you. He’s with him now. That’s all I know.”

“I’m on my way. Where should I go?”

“Doctor said you should go to ground floor ER-1. He will be there as soon as he can.”

^^^^^^^^^^^

Now, at 2:30 a.m., Rachel paced in the private room. Three different doctors spoke to her in the last two hours but the news was not good
. Jack was in isolation surgery; and, Rachel was shaking, trying to think.

Accept Jack’s death? Even if he lives, life will be so different. What would he want me to do? Matt, I need Matt! Where the hell is he?

She did not want to fathom any of this. Still somehow, she had ingrained within her the Pollyanna notion that all would be okay
.

…There has to be something; maybe what we have done in our work could help. After all, Jack; Honey, we cured the common cold and proved the impossible possible, right?

“Hmm, Rachel think, damn it.”

She pushed the nurses call button; no reply and no one came. Finally, she went to the bed and lay down hoping to drift into sleep.

Chapter 3

Nurses Lounge

Back in the second floor nurses lounge, before Ralph Walker could page him, Dr. Mathew Bellos moved quickly into the room. Bellos was fifty-two years old, six feet tall and 185 pounds. He was average to describe, but impressive at first sight. He was a complicated man, very educated, extremely talented and creative, with a background to envy. Most of all, he was a visionary and persuasive. His ancestor worked with Jonas Salk, researching the Polio vaccine. Consequently, his family had some notoriety through the years. After his parents died in New Mexico, young Bellos moved to Washington D.C. and earned Master’s Degrees in both ‘Genetic Analysis’ and ‘Organic Chemistry’. He also acquired a PhD in ‘Political Philosophy’. His unusual expertise and commanding presence was attractive and welcomed into the Washington elite. His published work, ‘Viruses to Recover Life’, made Bellos popular worldwide. Finally, at the Brock /Swanson Complex, Mathew Bellows reigned as Chief of Andrews Hospital. The buck stopped with him. Over the years, Bellos mentored and hired many of the hospital staff. Tonight, during the horrific early morning hours, news spread quickly throughout the Complex about Dr. Jack Sheldon’s arrival. Overall, in the hospital’s hierarchy, the entire staff thought of Jack, Rachel and Bellos as ‘the big three’. However, only a select few knew his injuries were fatal.

The moment Dr. Bellos entered the nurse’s lounge; he went to Angie and the two doctors holding her. He shielded them from
the others, who again began to huddle around and watch.

“Angie, Angie; it’s me, Dr. B.”

Her whole face changed, when she looked up at him.

“Dr. Bellos, I’m so happy to see you. Listen to me. I was i
n focus 309. I did everything you instructed. He was…”

Bellos placed his for
efinger to his lips and smiled.

“Shush, it’s okay.”

He embraced and lifted her. She noticed that he was applying unusual pressure to her upper arms, guiding her out of the lounge, toward a security guard. Bellos spoke firmly but quietly, “Please take Miss Angie to my office and stay with her until I get there. Give her anything she would like. If she is hungry, order from the kitchen. Let her relax. I will be there as soon as I can. And give her privacy; wait outside.”

Angie was even more confused
, and trembled, as the guard began to lead her away, slowly. Nurse Sawyer stepped in front of Dr. Bellos and whispered to him trying to recount the story’s bits and pieces.

Bellos interrupted, “Nurse, you didn’t hear anything but the ravings of an emotionally unstable woman. Unfortunately, Angela Esposito has had a problem
lately, of which I’ve only become aware of recently. She has been, allegedly, abusing her access to the private prescriptions on ‘focus ward’. It’s very sad, and a highly secure issue, because of the particular hallucinogenic involved. So, we didn’t have this conversation, Barb. We have invested a lot here, and we need her. We all need her. Listen, Barb, I need to get her through this as quietly as possible; make her rehabilitation work. Are you with me here? ‘I’ will handle this.”

“Yes
, of course; she seemed stressed yes, emotional yes; but, believe me; she was coherent. Look, Dr. Bellos, there are so many things I don‘t know about your precious ‘focus ward’; but I know people; and she wasn‘t on drugs.”

“Well, I hope you
don’t make me pull rank. I’ve told you more than I should already.”

Bellos turned to walk away; and then he stopped, and turned back. With one eyebrow raised, he put his hand affectionately on Barb’s shoulder.

“We have bigger problems, Barb. Please, work with me here. I have to go. Use that talent of yours to calm these people. Let them know that this is a special security situation. Nothing goes beyond this room, all right?”

Sawyer was a professional, loyal trooper, yet always the skeptic. She blinked and nodded, “Right.”

Bellos paused again, as though he just had an epiphany. He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “You’ve been here five years and have a great record, Barb. You know more than most about everything here, don’t you?”

“I like to think I’m up to date.”

“Well, until we sort this out, I am reassigning you. You are the only other person I trust, with the qualifications and experience to oversee ‘focus ward’. Report to me at 4:00 p.m. sharp, this afternoon in my tenth floor office. Meantime, check your computer and read all the ‘redirect security protocols’ involved. We will discuss your specific duties and access codes at that time. Please be prepared to perform, on a 24/7 basis.”

It was close to three a.m.; Bellos sped off to the elevator. Barb Sawyer stood
, in shock, at the lounge door, watching Angie and her guard, disappear down the hallway.

Chapter 4

Total Recall

Dr. Mathew Bellos entered the elevator and pushed ER-1. He could not help thinking about his history with Rachel and Jack over the years.

Their first meeting took place while working at V.I.R.A.I.D., Viral Infection Research and Internal Development. At that time, it was a sub-contracting company to the Defense Department. Each of them worked in different specialized DNA laboratories. Jack and Rachel’s team were developing a new military concept. The premise was that too much testosterone with adrenaline caused over aggression, which was the basis for military behavior. Their objective was to suppress these two chemicals, in the body, by deploying a gaseous contagion during combat. Rachel and Jack isolated and defined formulas that, if proven correct, would prevent these hormones from secreting within ten seconds. The distribution perimeters were within a hundred square yards. If they succeeded, the target troops could not fight; no fighting, no war. This effort was to be the foundation, upon which, Jack would later define ‘chemical personality controllers’.

A
t that same time, young Dr. Bellos’s team was researching ‘dormant viruses’ reactions to various stimuli. A virus can lay dormant for thousands of years; and then, with proper stimuli, it can become active; alive again. His research team progressed to reactivate not only several viruses, but also, some rare bacterial subjects. Eventually, Bellos hoped to create a practical use for his findings; like transporting donor organs or limbs for transplant, without the need of refrigeration. Later, Bellos would hypothesize that death itself was an illness; and the cure lay in the viral world. Anyway, Jack and Rachel were attending a three-day V.I.R.A.I.D. convention, and Mathew Bellos was the preceding Keynote speaker. What he said profoundly moved them. They forced a meeting with him; and, after finding out they had so much in common, the three bonded. They became unmatchable research team leaders.

Bellos mind drifted as he rode in the hospital elevator. He thought about how it all seemed so convoluted now. Jack’s C.P.T. discovery changed everything. Recently, especially, Bellos had become so embroiled with it all. He thought back to his life changing morning years ago on May 12…

**********

That morning Dr. Mathew Bellos was enjoying a cup of coffee and a croissant at the small sidewalk café, Gus’s Coffee, in Santa Fe, New Mexico; his hometown. It was not long after he began working at the Complex. He was excited about his new position, at Brock/Swanson, and relieved to get away from the east coast political arena. As he sipped his Santa Fe espresso, he noticed a rather stiff looking man sit down at the small round table next to him. Although dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, the man was obviously not from the southwest. He looked around forty; appeared stuffy and well mannered; but, somehow, reminiscent of the FBI types, within the Washington D.C. crowd. The man made no eye contact; however, at one point, Bellos felt like he was being x-rayed. After five minutes or so, the man got up and quickly dropped the daily issue of the Santa Fe Gazette, onto Dr. B.’s table. Bellos startled and looked at the man, with some confusion. The man smiled, nodded; and then, just like that, he was gone. Bellos remained perplexed, for a moment, feeling an adrenaline rush. Then, his eyes saw a slip of yellow ‘post it’, wedged in the newspaper. He took it out, unfolded it and read:

Mathew Bellos: You have been chosen for a high purpose. We want you as our ally in the struggle to preserve and better humanity. It is urgent you phone me @...

There was a small iconic signature stamped at the bottom of the note that looked like an old Christian fish symbol
, with a dollar sign before it. Questions haunted him on and off all day. That evening, in the privacy of his office study, Bellos made the phone call that would change his priorities completely. A voice answered, “Bridger here…”

Bellos froze for a second.

“Yes, I am Dr. Mathew Bellos. Ah; one of your people approached me this morning. He asked me to call this number.”

“Oh yes
, Dr. Bellos; that wasn’t one of my people; that was me. I am Tom Bridger. I apologize for the cloak and dagger. So glad you made the call, though. We can never be sure of our response rate, from first meetings. When you learn about our organization, you’ll understand.”

Bellos was hardly interested.

“I called because the cryptic method you used haunted me; but frankly, I’m not interested in solicitations of any kind; thank you.”

“Dr. Bellos,
we are on the verge of making one of the most important announcements in the history of medicine. Perhaps it is the most important announcement in all history, but we need you. I am not exaggerating in any way.”

“I really don’t have any idea what you are talking about.”

“Doctor, why do we become medical researchers? Why do we fight disease? What is your goal in medicine? Please, I cannot discuss this over the phone. I assure you, I am sincere. We must meet. It will not just change your life; you will fulfill your destiny.”